Cable management systems (such as electrical equipment cabinets, cable racks, bays or frames, which are hereinafter referred to as “cabinets”) have long been used in a variety of applications, such as in communications and electronic services, and are generally located in indoor rooms, enclosures, offices or controlled environmental vaults. Cabinets generally include a variety of devices, e.g., patch panels, electrical equipment, and the like. Cabinets can further include a plurality of cables interconnecting the various devices mounted within or with respect to the cabinet.
In many instances, devices mounted within or with respect to a cabinet require a supply of cool air to ensure that a moderate operating temperature is maintained within the device. Cold air can be supplied to a cabinet by, e.g., a plurality of fans, a computer room air conditioning unit (CRAC), and the like, and can further be exhausted from the equipment by one or more equipment fans. Warm air can generally be exhausted through vents in the cabinet into, e.g., a space, a corridor, a return plenum, and the like.
With the advent of high-density electrical equipment that increasingly consume more amperage per device, such as switches and blade servers, the heat loads within the cabinet have generally risen from less than about 8 kW and now approach approximately 30 kW in some cabinets. Microchips are generally performing more calculations despite a shrinking footprint, thus consuming more power and further contributing to increased heat loads. In addition to the increased density of electrical equipment, virtualization continues to maximize hardware utilization, making the traditional hot aisle-cold aisle layout of IT equipment inadequate. Thus, IT managers are generally required to reduce their power usage effectiveness (PUE) while maintaining network integrity.
It is understood within the industry that maintaining separation of cold supply air and hot exhaust air allows supply air temperatures to be raised per American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) guidelines and improves cooling unit efficiency by returning air at higher temperatures to the cooling coils. Additionally, as is understood within the industry, an adequate and/or an oversupply of cold air generally does not, e.g., remediate hot spots, stop over temperature alarms, eliminate equipment failure due to high temperatures, and the like. Rather, fans within the equipment in the cabinet generally lose performance by, e.g., attempting to overcome a positive head pressure, being over-driven due to exposure to a negative plenum pressure, and the like. In particular, current chimney deployments are generally either passive or fan assisted. Passive chimneys generally allow direct access to a negative plenum pressure and allow the short cycling of the CRAC unit. Chimneys used in conjunction with fans generally, e.g., increase power consumption, contribute to short cycling of the CRAC unit, contribute to noise pollution within the data center, and result in other non-desirable effects.
Thus, a need exists for a ventilation system and associated methods for regulating a property, e.g., a pressure, a temperature, and the like, of an electrical equipment cabinet to eliminate (or substantially eliminate) warm exhaust air from devices mounted within or with respect to such cabinets in a more effective and/or reliable manner. These and other needs are addressed by the systems and methods of the present disclosure.